Participants:
| Scene Title | The Last Lemon |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Shaw returns from scavenging. He and Isabelle discuss the newcomers. And have opinions about the world's impending doom. |
| Date | November 15, 2011 |
The Hub: Common Area
It's hard to tell whether it's day or night when one is underground. Makes it hard to sleep when the circadian rhythms are thrown off. Then again, with the current state of the world, sleep is that necessary luxury one traps in quick snatches, cages in the mind, and forces submission. Back from one of those scavenging missions, Shaw lies on the floor in a corner of the common area, staring at the ceiling in an effort to catch that elusive specter. He's so far unsuccessful, and so, sits back up to a cross-legged position and exhales a slow, meditative sigh. Not a tired sigh, unfortunately. There's been a buzz of news around the Hub that's steeping in his mind, and the bits he's heard are now like a strong tea to keep him awake.
Footsteps can be heard coming down the hall as Isabelle enters the common area. She yawns, doesn't matter what time it is for her she's tired. Deciding to leave the Lucky Lady for a bit and hoping Brenda isn't going to burn the place down Izzy is taking a break.
Her eyes survey the room and then she sees Shaw and she grins. "I haven't seen you in a while." Isabelle had stopped scavenging fulltime after Brenda begged her to stop going out and open a bar or something inside. She hates worrying her friend and so.. she stopped mostly if they needed help she was still around. Shaw knew this.
Movement is what catches Shaw's attention first. His dark eyes turn to follow Isabelle's path as she enters the common area, and he draws his head up enough to show that he's seen and heard her. "It's been a while," he confirms as he slips a hand back to where a stained hoodie that used to be blue but is now more faded slate is rolled up to form a makeshift pillow. The other hand lifts, gestures the woman over, closer, as he works on unrolling the clothing.
"How is it out there?" She asks as she comes close sitting down leaning against the wall her legs out in front of her. She misses it, she won't lie. But Brenda was starting to go crazy with worry.
"Told K-Mart I wanna run on the next one. Getting.. antsy."
The man waits until she's sat to continue the slow, deliberate reveal. Shaw's focused on the task but he answers ever quietly, "Death from above." The message is kind of cryptic until he qualifies, "I heard they have a sniper." However, he doesn't say anything specifically discouraging Isabelle from going on a scavenging run. He's not the type, doesn't presume to tell anybody what they can and can't do. "But there's still this." And from the unwrapped hoodie he extracts what appears to be the saddest lemon. It's small, dry, like it's been on a tree for too long and forgotten. There's probably not any juice worth noting in it.
"Well fuck me." Isabelle slams a hand on the floor. The sound vibrates around them. "When are we gonna stop sitting here and take these fuckers out? There has to," she stops as the strange man shows her the lemon and she looks quickly between the two before her eyes grow sad. He's always been just a little off? She reaches out a hand to take the lemon and examine it. "It use to really taste good." she comments, she actually loved that sour taste.
"Find anything else? You scurry around." She teases with a wink.
The sudden jump of sound volume comes as a surprise. Shaw startles in place for a millisecond and then relaxes again. "When?" he echoes, shaking his head. "We may as well be the bird asking where to find the cat. Or maybe we're the mouse." He pauses, pondering the statement, but then he relinquishes the lemon into her hand. "You could use it in your batch. Maybe a garnish. Still might taste good and brighten up…" His gaze sweeps the room. "This." Meaning the room, or meaning their current lot in life. Moonshine will brighten up a lot - and knock you out. As to what else he's found, he slips his gaze back to her and those dark eyes light up. "I found out there's new people from the outside?"
"Fuck that I'm not a mouse, I'm a T-Rex." She will eat everyone, except Brenda, Magnes.. And Richard..
"But maybe we don't stand a chance, we'd have to all be negated to make a stand and that means more infection, more death." The pyrokinetic looks frustrated as Isabelle faces the facts and it deflates her a bit. "Well thanks for the lemon, no lemonade but maybe it'll make the next batch not as 'Make Everyone Cry Like A Bitch' face." She shrugs and places the lemon in her lap. "Free drinks for you." Er..
"Ahh yea.. An old friend of mine I thought was dead.. Actually you'd two get along." She's sure of it.
"Don't be a dinosaur," remarks Shaw with an arch of his brow up at her. "They're extinct." The same brow furrows as he then thinks aloud, "But birds are practically dinosaurs. Nevermind. Be a dinosaur." Bobbing his head like this is a satisfactory outcome for the sad lemon, he notes his thanks with an uncommon smile at Isabelle. A smile that wanes slightly when she mentions an old friend. The expression turns a little apprehensive. "Maybe we should all have drinks," he proposes, "it'll take the edge off." But then he blinks. "You thought he was dead?"
"Ya you're definitely get along with Magnes, he's gonna be smitten." Izzy pats his knee good naturedly. "Thank you I will remain a dinosaur." If a T-Rex could get them out of this whole mess.. Isabelle sighs and nods her head.
"It's rough out there, you see it," she waves her hand, "I… we got separated I beat myself up a lot about it in the beginning." And she really did, those days were the hardest. She had felt like she failed her friend. "But I'm getting a second chance to do right by my friend." Most people didn't get that.
Shaw looks down at the spot where Isabelle pats his knee, lingering on the sensation before canting his head at the name. "If he survived out there without getting infected or caught," he starts to say, but trails as he rolls the knotted end of one of the hoodie strings between his fingers. When he comes back from that little mental journey, Shaw peers with curious interest at Isabelle's expression as if reading the guilt. "Maybe he got lucky, like I did." It's not a secret, Shaw and his team had gotten ambushed, although they'd survived. He didn't go out for a while after the incident, but the man has since recovered. "How about the other? Also your friend?" he asks. Then, "Think they like lemons in their drinks?" It seems investigative, these questions, but his piqued tone is like that of a sniffing dog's. He just wants to know more.
"I'm not sure about Liz. She's a new person," she holds off on the friend word just yet. She and Liz aren't there yet. The negated pyro flexes her hand and sighs. "I'm pretty sure everyone wants a little lemonade right now, man."
Screw lemons.
Though she will take this beaten up one for her next batch. She'd strangle someone for some lemonade right now.
Given Isabelle's hesitation on Liz, Shaw cants his head and looks like he logs her reaction somewhere in the depths of his brain. Not sure. "If I see them, I'll ask," he says with a slow nod, abstaining from further judgment.
"I could go back out and find more," he remarks in regards to the lemon. "There must be some store with Tang still on the shelf out there." Unlikely, though, that said store would be anywhere nearby if they've scavenged the area for this many years. "Or, Vanguard found all the Tang and they're hiding it." To that, he makes a squinted face. Those sons of bitches, hiding the lemonade. After another pause, Shaw turns back to Isabelle. "Do you really want to go on the next run? Maybe Brenda would be ok with you going. Or we could bring your friend if he's not busy." He shrugs, however. "But we'd have to ask permission, probably."
"It's not enough that the bastards unleashed THE plague on us. They also get the fucking Tang? Where's the goddamn justice?" Isabelle looks at the scavenger with a dark look. "I'd burn 'em all down to hell if I could, Shaw." She really would. She's never hated anyone as much as she hates that group and everyone in it.
Sometimes, she muses, if she knew where they were, if she could just go without her pills and take them on. Go out in a blaze of glory. She could really do some damage. But then again, Brenda and now Magnes enter her mind. She couldn't just leave them. They need her.
The subject of going on another run makes her smile though, it's danger of a different kind with the added bonus of maybe running into a pack of the Vanguard. "I would like too yes, Magnes would definitely be useful. Even Liz." Most definitely Liz but she's still being a bitch about her.
Right? It's just not fair. But then, Shaw looks contrite that Isabelle looks so angry, like he's the one at fault. He stays quite as she rants, considers the consequences as much as she does about burning it all down. But luckily, the idea of another run is something more positive. Kind of. It's still a danger, a risk. "You're very confident in them," he observes. "What do they… do?" As in what are their powers. "Do you know?"
"I call Magnes 'Gravoman'. He can manipulate the fuck outta gravity. He took me flying once, it was rad." Those we're happy times weren't they? Isabelle taps her knees and tilts her head back resting her head on the wall. She looks up towards the ceiling. "I don't know what Liz does, haven't asked actually. But she seems like a tough Bitch," so that should work out. To the comment of being confident in them. "Well, I trust Magnes with my life, so."
Well now that gets Shaw's attention. "Flying?" he echoes in some awe. "Like Superman…" The man murmurs a soft phrase of another language but it sounds thoughtful. And for one brief moment, he curls the corners of his mouth in a smile. "I think I'd like to meet them both," he muses, "but maybe not by myself. You know what I mean?" He slants a glance over to the pyro. Hinting.
"Yes! Just like Superman. He's a nerd and everything!" And now has muscles and everything, er, what. Isabelle shakes her head and looks over at Shaw. "I will facilitate. You come by the bar and we'll all have a drink. I think you'll like them, a lot."
"Fat lot of good it does us if we're negated."
Shaw tilts his head the other way, still eyeing Isabelle beside him. "Okay," he eventually agrees for the thus scheduled place and activity. But the comment about their being negated gets a slight frown. "Better that way than dead," he says darkly. "I don't know. Maybe… maybe I don't miss it." His power, that is. It's been a long time since he's not been negated. Lifting a hand, he scrubs the top of his head and his fingers come away, which he looks at with the dirt on them. "But that's what we're fighting for isn't it? Why we're fighting at all. To live?"
Standing suddenly with a sigh, Isabelle looks down at Shaw with a sad expression. "Is cutting off your leg better than death? I don't know cuz I like walking." Isabelle sighs again and looks to her friend. "We are Shaw, we are."
There's a sadness to her tone but she doesn't bother to further explore it. Shaw is right. They need to live. If negation is the answer then so be it.
"We must live." It sounds like a promise.